Barrow Raiders will have second row Jarrad Stack available for Sunday’s home game against Halifax, but not for the matches that follow as the Australian has been granted a period of leave.

Stack will fly back to his homeland early next week for family reasons, meaning Raiders will have to do without his considerable influence during what is a tough month of fixtures.

The 31-year-old had to miss last Sunday’s 38-14 loss at Widnes Vikings due to work commitments, with Barrow head coach Paul Crarey admitting they missed him very much against their in-form opponents.

While he knows he’ll be without Stack for a couple of weeks, Crarey is still waiting on the seriousness of the ankle injury to Dan Toal. It’s not yet known whether he damaged ligaments early in the second half against the Vikings.

Crarey said: “He couldn’t train on Tuesday, as they’d told him to lay off it.

“We actually had a few injuries on the night – Jordan Walne was in the treatment room, Jono Smith was in the treatment room and we only had about 12 bodies out there, which is difficult.

“Jarrad Stack will play this week, but then he’s got to go home because he’s had some bad family news, so after this Sunday we’ll lose Jarrad for a couple of weeks.

“I don’t think his mum’s very well, so he’s got to go home on Monday and take care of a family member who’s ill.

“It’s just blow after blow at the moment, but the lads that are still here are still positive and they’ll keep pushing on. It doesn’t get any easier, with the injuries and the news that Jarrad has got to go back home.”

Having seen one injury crisis ease off, it looks as though Raiders are spiralling into another – not ideal with fixtures against Featherstone, Leigh and Toulouse to follow Halifax.

Crarey remains philosophical, saying: “We’re used to it now – we had it all last year.

“We’re talking to players at the moment to try and bring some experience in.”